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@ginaintheburg It's just as likely to be both parents contributing. The blame game is futile, and harmful. #ActuallyAutistic people are forever fighting a very real prejudice against them. Autistic children need to be protected from ABA and 'cures'.
Knowledge is power. #NothingAboutUsWithoutUs

@Tooden @ginaintheburg And I'll add that: "The latest statistics released by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that autism spectrum disorder increased by 23 percent from 2006 to 2008 to include nearly one in 88 children." says more about diagnosis and societal changes than the #actuallyAutistic population...

@ScriptFanix @Tooden

They've been trying to pin the ever increasing rate of autism on increases in diagnosis every since I can remember - at heart the 80s.

B. S.

I think the cause is environmental, not diagnostic bias or better diagnostics.

@ginaintheburg @ScriptFanix @Tooden None of the autistics I've met who were alive in the 80's were diagnosed in the 80’s.

@ginaintheburg @ScriptFanix @Tooden They were autistic in the 80's, though.

@BernieDoesIt I'm pretty damn sure my mother was autistic, and my dad was audhd. Both masked heavily, of course. They were born in the 1920s. Chances are they inherited from 'their' parents...long before vaccinations or food additives were a thing. @ginaintheburg @ScriptFanix

@pathfinder Exactly. Eugenics is never going to become a thing of the past while people are ignorant of the ways that the spectrum works. But, there is also that disability stigma. The fear and horror of disability that is entrenched in the NT mind. What's happening in the USA at present, and to a lesser extent in the UK, is the deliberate attempt to erase the elderly, disabled, and 'different', through the defunding and shutting down of programs that assist them. #Evil @BernieDoesIt @ginaintheburg @ScriptFanix

@Tooden @BernieDoesIt @ginaintheburg @ScriptFanix
I'm afraid to say you're right. In part it's the covid classic again of, if there is no tests then it means there's no problem and we don't have to do anything.
The thought that difference may be common is certainly something that the hierarchical minded are not comfortable with.

@ginaintheburg @pathfinder @Tooden @ScriptFanix Are there any studies that say that de novo mutations are increasing? I'm not aware of any.

@BernieDoesIt @pathfinder @Tooden @ScriptFanix

I'm not a researcher or scientist in the field, but what I've been aware of for at least a couple of decades is that the rate of diagnosis of autism is increasing. I'm having to dredge stuff out of my memory but I recall a story that the incidence of autism was higher in or near industrial areas & it was exposure to toxins that was the reason. Accompanied by a counter argument (poss promoted by producers of toxins) that autism was overdiagnosed.

@BernieDoesIt @pathfinder @Tooden @ScriptFanix

This article is from 2011, but it suggests that identification of autism-related genes and autism-related "genetic change" (presumably mutations?) is increasing due to new technology:
https://www.nature.com/articles/gim9201151

@BernieDoesIt @pathfinder @Tooden @ScriptFanix

No idea when this MedlinePlus article on 47,XYY syndrome was published, but it was last updated in 2022: some mutated genes associated w/autism are inheritable but not this one caused by a mutation occuring spontaneously during sperm production:
https://medlineplus.gov/genetics/condition/47xyy-syndrome/#inheritance

There are more - not long ago I read a reference to thousands of genes associated w/autism, many mutations, most commonly sperm mutations. Can't find it now & I have to stop here.

@ginaintheburg @BernieDoesIt @pathfinder @Tooden @ScriptFanix
Does this help?

@k_leyton_cooper @BernieDoesIt @pathfinder @Tooden @ScriptFanix

No. It's does not help.

It was def not Fox News - I only use &/or cite authoritative, valid sources. In fact it wasn't anything on TV. It was an article.

@ginaintheburg @BernieDoesIt @pathfinder @Tooden @ScriptFanix
I was k-i-d-d-i-n-g!

@k_leyton_cooper @BernieDoesIt @pathfinder @Tooden @ScriptFanix

K. Sooooo cute...

@BernieDoesIt @Tooden @ginaintheburg @ScriptFanix
There's no way to know how far it actually goes back. But given the size of what seems to be a fairly stable population, it's a long way back.
Plus so many people In history scream autism, it's hard to believe they weren't.

@pathfinder @BernieDoesIt @ginaintheburg @ScriptFanix

@BernieDoesIt @pathfinder @Tooden @ScriptFanix

Citations?

@ginaintheburg @pathfinder @Tooden @ScriptFanix Here's a very famous relevant study that comes up quickly in a web search: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5286449/

It's one of the studies I was thinking of but not the one I was most hoping to find. I'll keep looking.

@BernieDoesIt @pathfinder @Tooden @ScriptFanix

That's not the statement I was asking a citation for. It was your statement that:

"Every study I've seen that evaluates a random population with uniform criteria finds the same autism rate at every age."

@ginaintheburg @pathfinder @Tooden @ScriptFanix Here's one of the articles I was remembering when I wrote that. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapsychiatry/fullarticle/211276

@ginaintheburg @pathfinder @Tooden @ScriptFanix I seem to remember there was a study with similar methodology and the same conclusion more recently in some other country. Maybe Sweden?

@frankcat @pathfinder @Tooden @ginaintheburg @ScriptFanix A less appreciated aspect of this study is that it shows that the "autistics have a shorter expected lifespan" statistic you sometimes hear is probably also due to measuring bias.

@BernieDoesIt @pathfinder @Tooden @ScriptFanix

I disagree with that birds of a feather bit.

It leads to guilt by association.

@ginaintheburg @pathfinder @Tooden @ScriptFanix My friends are only guilty of being awesome human beings. The fact that neurodivergent people generally have almost all neurodivergent friends while neurotypical people generally have very few neurodivergent friends has studies to prove it, and it's not hard to any ND person to understand why — NT people reject people like me almost immediately.

@BernieDoesIt @pathfinder @Tooden @ScriptFanix

I'm sorry if that's your experience, but it's not mine. First of all, I don't go around diagnosing my friends or people in general as to autism or not, but I'm willing to accept that a few of mine over the years & maybe even one of my best friends is on the spectrum. But I frankly don't care. I love diversity. And originality. And a good sense of humor. Character. Kindness...

The list is long & growing...

@ginaintheburg @pathfinder @Tooden @ScriptFanix It's not strictly true that every neurotypical I meet rejects me immediately, even though most do. Now that I'm an adult everyone is polite about deciding I'm not worth their time. They just aren't interested. I'm used to it. I've never known any different. But you can see why the idea of going out and meeting new people doesn't sound very fun to me.

There are NTs I like and who like me, but we just don't click together as well as my ND friends.

@ginaintheburg That's all fun and stuff, but you're asking others for citations but have provided none to support your environmental factors stance.
@pathfinder @BernieDoesIt @Tooden

@ginaintheburg @pathfinder @BernieDoesIt @Tooden Anyway... 6AM... Think I'll try and get some sleep.